99-year-old Exchange Club volunteer honored for years of service

Dec 19, 2012 - Frank Jones (center) embraces Rinnie Wood during a party for the 99 year-old Jones at the Exchange Club Family Center in Midtown. After volunteering at the center for more than 15 years, Jones, or "Mr. Frank" as he is more commonly known, is retiring. Memphis Mayor A C Wharton issued a proclamation recognizing Dec. 19, 2012 as "Frank Jones Day" in the city. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

Frank Jones is something of a money man, having sifted through receipts, logged donations and ordered office supplies at the Exchange Club Family Center for the past 16 years.

But, at 99 years old, Jones seems more like a beloved grandfather to the center's staff, who honored his years of service in a combination Christmas/retirement party Wednesday afternoon.

Jones has donated four hours a day, four to five days a week, every week, for the past 16 years to the Family Center — amounting to over 15,000 hours of service.

For that, as well as for his service in the Pacific Theater during World War II, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton declared Wednesday Frank Jones Day in the city of Memphis.

"He really has that Greatest Generation work ethic," said Barbara King, the center's executive director. "You could count on him to be here even if no one else was."

Jones spent more than 30 years working in the mortgage loan business before retiring, then quickly went back to work again for another dozen years before retiring for the second time.

Though he may initially have had expectations of beginning a more leisurely life, his wife Lillian Jones said, "he realized immediately he didn't want to do that."

That's when a friend suggested that he help out at the Family Center, since he had already been a member of The Exchange Club for about 15 years.

Jones quickly fell in love with his work at the center, and with the staff as well. The feeling was clearly mutual on Wednesday when they presented him with a carved wooden box filled with handwritten notes and photos from everyone in the office.

"There's just no way I can express my thanks to all of you for putting up with me all this time," said Jones.

King, along with two other staff members, recited poems in Jones' honor, which they deemed especially fitting given his penchant for rattling off verses from Shakespeare, Keating or Poe around the office.

Jones moves a little — though not much — slower than he used to but, his friends say, he still likes to take his wife out dancing whenever they can and has a more active social life than most people half his age.

King said that Jones' warmth, wisdom and sense of humor will be dearly missed around the office. And so will, she said, his tendency to scour every catalog for the best price on office supplies.

"I just know our expenses are going to go up now that he's leaving us."